Tips to Get Started with a Telecommuter or Work from Home Job
Designate office space to business- If feasible, it would be wise to designate an area of your home as suitable for your home office to run your telecommuter or work from home business. This is where you should keep your computer, a desk or table, printer, pens and other office supplies. Also you should keep your phone in this area. Whether you use a cell phone as your main telephone or you have a separate landline, have a place on the desk or table where this way of connecting with the outside world is right at your fingertips. If you leave it at your working spot, you will be more prepared for out of the blue work related phone calls, as you will have everything right at your fingertips. Basically, you just want to leave this area clear of personal paperwork and such. IF you keep this then work only or at least keep up with it after using it for personal reasons, you will be more organized in genera lo and then you will portray that to anyone in the business realm of your life that you should happen to deal with.
Phone Message- Change your voicemail and/or answering machine message(s) to reflect your professionalism. If you have a company name you are working under, leave an outgoing message starting something like, “Hi, you have reached (your name) at XXX Productions or whatever the business title is”. If you are working as a self-employed independent contractor, just state your name in a forma, friendly message. Be sure to get back to people promptly so that they take seriously your commitment to be productive at this home based employment. Make sure if you plan to be out of town you either check your messages remotely and respond to them if only briefly to let people know you will call them again to discuss more details when you get back on x day. If you are unable to keep up with voicemails while away, leave an outgoing message to report your absence and let callers know when they can expect you back in the office. And stay true to that promise. Just because you don’t have a boss hounding you to be at your desk on a certain day doesn’t mean that there aren’t still people counting on your presence back at the home office.
Create a Website for your business- Everyone with any type of business has a website these days. It’s a great way to promote your business and also an easy way for clients and .or fellow professionals to have an open line of communication with you. A website also is a great customer service tool, as it is a sort of means by which you as the business owner or service provider are reaching out into the community to express the ins and outs of what you have to offer, and it is a subtle invitation for people to come to you. There is really no excuse for anyone operating business not to have a website dedicated to it, even if it’s a single page of material, with some company info and contact information on it.
Portfolio- You should have a portfolio neatly organized and visually appealing that will show clients your past work. You might want to have more than one designated portfolio, according to your areas of expertise. Better yet, if you are able to make the portfolio interactive through some quick web design, (or maybe you can beg a friend to do it for you) you can just categorize each genre into large sections. It is a good idea to have references in this area too. Many people withhold their reference info until asked for it, but with online technology advancing so rapidly, people don’t like to wait. It is best to let your references know that one of these days someone might call them, letting them know about your website and then asking permission to list their names and contacts. Most people would be delighted for you to do that simply because it might bring them business as well.
